Improvement in loom-pickers



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s. s. WALKER. LOOM-PICKER.

No.1sa,az1. Patented March 13, 1877.

. v WITNESSES I JV V'EJV' TOR @ZMWM SAMUEL S. WALKER, OF OROMPTON, RHODE ISLAND.

. IMPROVEMENT IN LO OM-PICKERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. [88,321 ,dated March 13, 1877 application filed October 1, 1876.

L o all whom it may comer m Be it known that I, SAMUEL S. WALKER, of Orompton, in the county of Kent and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain Improvements in Loom-Pickers, otwhich the following is a specification:

The nature of my invention consists in making a picker with two broad ends connected by a narrow strip that nearly fills the slot in the lathe, in which the picker-staff swings.

Figure 1 shows a front view of a loom-lathe, with a picker of the usual style at the left hand, and the improved picker on the right. Fig. 2 shows a perspective view of the new picker with a part of the stafi' attached. Fig. 3 is a front view of the picker. Fig. 4 is a front view of the old-style.

The picker A is made of several thicknesses of leather or other suitable material, glued together and cut into the shape shown in Fig. 3, with two broad ends connected by a narrow portion, long enough to reach through the slot in the lathe and leave room enough for the band or piece of lacing s, by which it is attached to the picker-staff g, a'tack driven through the band intothe picker in front, and another driven into the staff on the back, being sufficient to keep it in place. The main difficulty with the picker made in the usual form (see Fig. 4., a) is, that the band I), by which it is held on the staff, though made of the strongest material, is continually breaking from the force of the blow when that part of the picker marked 0 strikes the end of the slot, and when the band breaks the pieces of the picker are very liable to fly into the web and break it down more or less. Sometimes the band, after breaking, gets doubled up on the staff, so as to hold the shuttle-binder open. This keeps thebinder at the other end of the lathe open also; consequently, the shuttle, when thrown into that box, having nothing to hold it there, instantly bounds back into the web, causing a general breakdown.

All these difficulties are obviated by my improvement, for the band 8, though slight, is not liable to break, because of its position, and if it does break the picker cannot fly out of the slot. but will simply tip over backward and stop the shuttle from entering the box, which casts ofi the belt and stops'thc loom, in the usual way.

Other advantages are, that the upper end of the picker is free, in a measure, to adjust itself to the position of the shuttle, and, standing off from the stafl, receives the shuttle with a slight spring. The staff can be made two inches shorter, and lessen its weight where it has most effect. It will last twice as long by reversing it on the staffwhen the upper end is worn out, as the two ends are of the same shape, and it costs only a little more than one-halt, if we count, with the old style, the patent band generally used to hold it on the staff, and which costs nearly as much as the picker.

It is put through the slot by giving it a quarter-turn from its working position, and

' then turned back to be attached to the staff.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

As a new article of manufacture, a loompicker provided with a head or broad portion at each end, and with an intermediate narrower portion, adapted to work in the slot of the lay, all constructed. substantially as de-' scribed, whereby the picker is adapted to project above and below the lay, and the heads act as flanges to prevent the picker from flying out when the strap breaks, as and for the purpose specified.

SAMUEL S. WALKER.

Witnesses:

JAMES E. ARNOLD, FRANK H. ARNOLD. 

